Bf109g-14 WNr.463224 ?

[ouidjat]

Good morning Gents,

What about that machine?
Thanks for any comment you will provide.

Regards, Franck.

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hi there young man!

Bf 109 G-14 W.Nr. 463 224 "Gelbe Dreieck", Uffz. Willi Drude, 7./JG 77, deserted 26 Dec 1944 to RAF Dyce whilst accomplishing a training flight. Source: Gen.Qu.6.Abt.-BA-MA Signatur RL 2 III/1197, p.54; Prien, JG 77, IV, p.2235; Blitz, Then & Now, p.495; AI2(G) serial 261. Information courtesy of George Morrison.

Would love to see a pic from this machine...

Cheers
Marc

[Charles Bavarois]

Hello guys,

perhaps this is usefull:

The aircraft was on a ferry-flight for further use at JG5 in Norway.
And it was one of the Erla Bf109G14s built without MW-50 device. The british reports clearly remarks, that it was fully wired up for MW-50, but had no tank installed.

Carl

[ouidjat]

Thanks Carl and Marc,

I'll maybe get further answer but I'm eager to put some comments/questions here.

- From where did Drude took off?
- "The aircraft was on a ferry-flight for further use at JG5 in Norway" Yep!
It happens that in GRM list we can find the following:
16/12/1944, Uffz. Drude, IV./JG5, Missing for unkown cause, "Ort unbekannt", Komm.Gen.d.Dt.Lw.i.Norwegen, BA-MA Signatur RL 2 III/1170, p.51
... Same Drude??
- Last, but not the least, "Gelbe Dreieck" ??? JG5?, JG77 or ... Ergänzungs-Nachtjagdgruppe (einmot.), later 2./EJG2, machine, since the only known - by me - unit displaying such tactical markings was 2./EJG2 (see LwiF N.23) hence, maybe, ( a lot of maybe) Erg.NJGr.
...
But since I./EJG2 was created on 2/11/1944 .. don't need to use Erg.NJGr. ...

- Any photo available? None?

[ouidjat]

Further reading found on Internet via Drude's son ...

… Came across a book on-line titled: An Old Airman's Tale by Leslie "Uncle Will" Hay.

Apparently he and others were sitting on the runway at Dyce when Drude came in and crash landed on 12/26/44. He writes it up like this:
“He and others spot a 109 wagging it's wings while coming in for a landing. The plane bounced several times before flipping over on it's back and all these guys run over and lift up the plane allowing dad, who was unhurt, to climb out. He goes on to say: You'll never believe this, but the first thing he (Drude) did was to take out his comb, look in his mirror and comb his blonde, wavy hair! There were handshakes all around.”
… Drude told that the first thing he did was shut off the fuel and magneto to prevent a possible fire.
Being short of fuel by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with making a crash landing, but a boggy
pot holed runway does…
He (uncle Will) goes on to say:
“Uffz. Willi Drude took off from Aalborg at approx. 13:50 hrs in ME109G-14 on 26.12.44 on a flight to Stavanger. Drude had starting problems and delayed take off. Then the engine started (so no plane substitution was made), instead of following the formation, he took the opportunity to defect.

Flying initially at 1,000 metres in a NW direction, he used the T/T (whatever that is) to inform his base that he was ditching; he then descended to 25 metres and headed due west to Dyce. At 15:20 hrs, on approaching the airfield he climbed to 200 metres and waggled his wings indicating that he was about to land. The aircraft touched down, bounced violently several times and turned over on it's back.”

- So not really a training flight but a delivery flight.
- No photos? Sure? ...

[ouidjat]

That Young Uffz. ...

[ChristianK]

Regarding this "Gelbes Dreieck"-marking: My guess would be that Willi Drude's Bf 109 was new and unmarked (ferry flight), so the yellow triangle was the prominent C3 octane fuel marking on its port side. This would also be in line with Carl's MW50 info...

Cheers,
Christian

[ouidjat]

Interesting explanation Christian.

But from where comes this description:
Gen.Qu.6.Abt.-BA-MA Signatur RL 2 III/1197?
or
AI2.(g)? with a translation in German from English for Prien's publication reason...
Because I'm not thinking the German clerck wasn't aware about tactical codes in use.

Here is one document where we can read Aalborg, then Stavanger, then something the last part of Uberfuhrung and nothing more ...

By the way, his full name was Wilhelm Karl Drude.

[Cpt_Farrel]

I think I read a Crashed enemy aircraft report on this one and I seem to recall that the triangle was described as having rough edges or being roughly painted. My thought was an over painted chevron...

[ouidjat]

Originally Posted by Cpt_Farrel

I think I read a Crashed enemy aircraft report on this one and I seem to recall that the triangle was described as having rough edges or being roughly painted. My thought was an over painted chevron...

Hi Anders,

I think I have a book home Marc gave me three years ago ... Will check tomorrow... This report must be cited ...